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Recording In Ignorance And Daydreaming
By joseexist in Musings On Muses
June 7, 2011

Not everything I record comes out the way I want it to. Maintaining a bit of ignorance about what sounds good or not is par for my course though. When a new song is in the making I have a loose idea of how I want it to sound. Whatever resides in my mind is always evolving as I progress thru laying tracks and mixing, equalizing and tweaking effects. ‘My sound’ is not set in stone but I do enjoy experimenting within the range of a few custom settings in my effects box. The controls on my guitars also offer a direct and hands on way to make tone changes. Once again, nothing is set in stone but my desire to ROCK! But, even that is subject to change during the recording process.

I found what seemed to be a perfect fit for some lyrics I wrote in 2005. I proceeded to take a full day to work out the arrangement and then two days to track, and mix. Everything felt great as I took each instrument thru permutations of the arrangement. The vocals even felt good as I belted them out. After I finished everything I burned a disc and threw it in a walkman. It sounded great at the time. I then took it out to the truck and listened. At high volume I felt that the lead guitar was too conflictive with everything. It just didn’t fit anymore. The bass also seemed to be pumping along with the kick drum competitively instead of in sympathy. Three days later now and I’ve decided to re-record both bass and lead guitar. I’ll also be making changes in the equalization that I can’t realize until I’m deep into it all. Re-mix will be a must and re-mastering will eventually follow.

If I had the time and money I’d of course be in a dedicated facility recording music. I’m sure the quality would far surpass what I can do alone but the business aspect is a flavor I can do without. I’m content to keep plugging along as always, hunkered down in my ‘cave’.

Might I entertain delusions of grandeur? Sure. Why not? Those fancy daydreams are alright. They offer jaunts away from reality for a few fleeting moments. The tether stretches only so far though. Snapping back to the real world is always a joy to go thru when you do it while looking back over your shoulder with your mind.

I often see myself facing a world record crowd. I’m leaning backwards into a sonic wind blowing from a wall of speakers as I let my fingers fly on my guitar. A sea of lighters twinkles like fireflies. I watch the shockwave of every note wash out across the crowd. I pause for a moment and they all scream for more. I indulge them and resume the trading of energies. In an instant the image is racing away. It falls back into the infinity of possibilities leaving sweet echoes of everything is was behind. I land here with sparkles of melancholy. Still sitting in this chair, and still typing these words.